Sunday, September 25, 2005

CHINESE WHITE SUGAR SPONGE

As I love Asian sweets, I decided to make my own "Chinese White Sugar Sponge". In Cantonese it is known under the name of "Pak Tong Koh". It's quite an easy and botherless recipe which brings an exotic touch to your home cooking. This sponge has a really special yeasty taste of rice. In consistency, it is somewhere between "wet" bread and rubber! I really loved this Chinese dessert and I really recommend it. It would be the ideal accompaniment to Chinese Oolong tea, Chinese green tea or Jasmine tea. If you feel tempted, try adding vanilla sugar to the mixture or replacing the white sugar by brown sugar. I even found it delicious when eaten warm with a bit of cinnamon sprinkled over!!!!......

For the recipe, please refer yourself to the following blog: www.wlteef.blogspot.com

Gonna go look for this in town here. We are in NYC for a few weeks and you can find everything here.

Have you heard of Haloumi? It is a Cypriot cheese that you grill or fry. My wife and I discovered it when we went to Cyprus to get married. Everyone took to it and we even served it as an appetiser for our reception.

Hi David,I've heard that you can find everything you want in New York's numerous delis...

I know what Haloumi is, but I've not yet been able to taste this Greek cheese as I never went to Cyprus (I visited the Peloponnese and the Attica) and have not yet seen it here. Apart from Feta, I love Manouri which is a soft and mild ewe's or goat's cheese from Macedonia and Thessalia. You can use it as you would do with Feta and it really is worth buying as it's creamy and fluffy to please!

I'll try finding Haloumi cheese in Geneva, but since it's not New York......

Wow, these bring back such memories for me. My Mom used to buy these all the time for me from bakeries in San Francisco's Chinatown. I loved how light and airy they were, with just a hint of vanilla-sweetness. I've never tried to make them, but this recipe definitely inspires me to. Happy Lunar New Year, everyone!